This invention relates to optical transmission and, more particularly, to an optoelectronic transceiver module assembly for terminating a bi-directional optical fiber.
Packages for optoelectronic devices terminating optical fibers and utilizing silicon processing technology are known, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,897,711 to Blonder et al. The '711 patent discloses a subassembly for use in packaging an optoelectronic device (e.g., LED or photodiode) which includes a silicon base and lid having a variety of etched features (e.g., grooves, cavities, alignment detents) and metalization patterns (e.g., contacts, reflectors) which enable the device to be mounted on the base and coupled to the fiber. Specifically, a subassembly according to the Blonder et al patent is for use with unidirectional transmission over the optical fiber. It would be desirable to have such a package which can be utilized in a bi-directional transmission system.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an assembly for terminating an optical fiber which transmits information bi-directionally.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such an assembly which is manufactured by utilizing silicon processing techniques to keep the cost low, the package small and the tolerances precise.
It is yet another object of this invention to achieve high precision small packages for such an assembly which are thermally stable and allow batch processing to achieve low cost.